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Not sure if this is the right forum, but I guess a mod will move if not. I live outside the city of San Antonio in Bexar County. I live in a non-gated community with a mandatory HOA. The HOA Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs) has an Article that states, "In the event of any conflict between the Declaration of Use Restrictions and Ordinances of the City of San Antonio or any Bexar County regulations, the most restrictive shall govern."
I have 2 questions:
1. Why would that be in our CC&Rs since we live outside the San Antonio city limits, and therefore San Antonio city ordinances do not apply to us.
2. Would that Article be enforceable by the HOA since we are outside the San Antonio city limits.
I have asked other people their opinion on why this would be in our CC&Rs, and no one can really say. Some people think it is just boiler plate language that our builder uses. Since they do build within the city limits, then that Article gets slapped in the CC&Rs for all HOAs in the neighborhoods they build.
I don't know that I buy this as a mistake, or something they put in the CC&Rs knowing it doesn't apply. I do however wonder if they put it in the CC&Rs to be able to pull in city ordinances in order to give them more control of the neighborhood? For example, there is a city ordinance that generally prohibits the parking of RV's on the streets of residential neighborhoods. Since we are a non-gated community, the streets are public property and the HOA has no jurisdiction of the public street. However, if they say the city ordinance applies to us, they in essence have rules for the public street, that they did not create; the city did. Does that sound feasible? I realize that the neither city PD, or code Enforcement or the County Sheriff could enforce the city ordinances, but the HOA could enforce the rules to a certain degree. They could also say you agreed to those rules when you bought your home.
It is boilerplate that does not contain any contradiction. If you are outside city limits, city ordinances do not apply so there can be no conflict. County regulations presumably do apply so the most restrictive governs.
Seems to me I remember that some places in the west allow cities to annex neigboring areas. This COULD be intended to cover that contingency.
Agreed. It is language to incorporate for any future city boundary adjustments without having to go back and update the CC&R's in the event that the neighborhood gets pulled in.
I ask because, for one thing, did you know when you were buying? And, also, if you just noticed it, check with someone who purchased some time before you and see what their's say. I know some boards that change them...whether a vote or info to the owners are required or not.
I also know some HOAs that use CC&Rs from another one, maybe one where the declarant or developer lived and they forget to cross out some stuff or add in other things.
I can understand having the language as a contingency I guess. So the question still remains, can the HOA enforce the city ordinances since they are in the CC&Rs? If not, then how can the HOA control anything that goes on in the public street, beyond the actual property line? I already mentioned parking RVs. Another example might be basketball goals. The HOA says no basketball goals in the driveway when not in use, and they must be stored out of site. What is to prevent a homeowner from putting their portable goal in the street in front of their house? Assuming of course there are no County ordinances against that.
I can understand having the language as a contingency I guess. So the question still remains, can the HOA enforce the city ordinances since they are in the CC&Rs? If not, then how can the HOA control anything that goes on in the public street, beyond the actual property line? I already mentioned parking RVs. Another example might be basketball goals. The HOA says no basketball goals in the driveway when not in use, and they must be stored out of site. What is to prevent a homeowner from putting their portable goal in the street in front of their house? Assuming of course there are no County ordinances against that.
Anything that is in the CC&R the HOA can enforce within the community. The point of an HOA is the restrict homeowners from doing certain things that will make the property values lowered. A lot of HOA's ban RV's or boats from being parked in the driveways. Other rules include no basketball goals, painting your home certain colors, out of control landscaping, etc. Doesn't matter if it's allowed by the town, its the subdivisions rules. You can request the CC&R's before purchasing a home. If you don't like the rules, don't purchase a home in an HOA community. The HOA can fine you and they will win in court!
Anything that is in the CC&R the HOA can enforce within the community.
A lot of HOA's ban RV's or boats from being parked in the driveways.
I understand the HOA can levy rules regarding your property. But my question is do they have authority to regulate what you do on public property (e.g. the street)? Again my question is relative to a non-gated community. Reading the CC&Rs I notice that everything is worded to address the homeowners lot. For example, you can't have inoperable vehicles parked on your lot. You can't have RVs, boats, etc. parked on your lot. You can't have vehicles with company logos parked on your lot. You can't leave basketball goals within street view on your lot. Do the CC&Rs only address your lot because the HOA can't make rules regarding the public street?
Can the HOA enforce city ordinances, even though the community is outside of city limits?
By the way, I am not complaining about anything in the CC&Rs. I am just trying to understand the issue.
I understand the HOA can levy rules regarding your property. But my question is do they have authority to regulate what you do on public property (e.g. the street)? Again my question is relative to a non-gated community. Reading the CC&Rs I notice that everything is worded to address the homeowners lot. For example, you can't have inoperable vehicles parked on your lot. You can't have RVs, boats, etc. parked on your lot. You can't have vehicles with company logos parked on your lot. You can't leave basketball goals within street view on your lot. Do the CC&Rs only address your lot because the HOA can't make rules regarding the public street?
Can the HOA enforce city ordinances, even though the community is outside of city limits?
By the way, I am not complaining about anything in the CC&Rs. I am just trying to understand the issue.
The HOA has the ability to make its own CC&Rs. They can elect to make them mirror a nearby city, or if they are not near a city at all, they can make up some. For example, in my last community, there was a large master HOA that limited real estate signs to a set size with a specified color scheme. I lived in an otherwise unincorporated area. Presumably the county covers the street, so they can’t actually limit you on the street. There may be other things such as streetlights that are also maintained by the county. In my neighborhood, the roads were maintained by the community, but the lights were maintained by the county. As such, the signs were also governed by the master HOA and had to have the same color scheme as the real estate signs.
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